Fungi on Fungi

[Fungus Ken]

While digging back through my old photos I came across the specimen in the photos below, which was an agaric that had not developed its gills because of an infection, presumably by another fungus. These photos are from September 2005.





Unfortunately I didn't pay the specimen much attention when I brought it back and, by the time I came to look at it, it was a disgusting pool of putrid mess.

It was growing in grassy soil under birch and hawthorn at Rixton Clay Pits, alongside some large and rotting specimens of Paxillus involutus. At first I assumed it was a smaller Paxillus, but looking at the photos, I don't think it can have been. Lactarius pubescens grows in profusion on the reserve, so it may well be an infected specimen of this species.

The infecting fungus doesn't look right for a Hypomyces, or for Peckiella which can affect species of Lactarius. In any event the colour is wrong for Peckiella lateritia and Peckiella viridis, which are the two species listed in Ellis and Ellis Microfungi on Miscellaneous Substrates as growing on Lactarius.

To me the purplish colour of the infecting fungus suggests Nectria, but Ellis and Ellis does not list any species that infect agarics.

So I am stumped. All I can say is it was definitely an agaric, but not sure which one, and the growth had been distorted by a parasitic fungus.

Anyone any thoughts or comments?

Ken

[Fungus Ken]

PS There's a nice little invertebrate visible in the second photo, if anyone fancies having a go at identifying that.

Presumably it was feeding on the agaric, or the fungus infecting the agaric. The mushroom was covered with them until I brushed them off with my little mushroom brush on the end of my knife (which I won in a competition in Field Mycology magazine to identify a mystery fungus).

Ken

[FungiJohn]

Interesting Ken. do you mind if I copy and play with the images ... I have a plan

I must admit I find fungi on fungi very interesting. I've one in the Gallery which when I remember which one I'll seek some further advice on if I may

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Interesting Ken. do you mind if I copy and play with the images ... I have a plan

Feel free. Play away.

Ken

[FungiJohn]

Thanks Ken

This is the one I mentioned. I am assuming that both species are actually Russula delica



But sometimes I do have doubts

[Fungus Ken]

I'd have to give the mushroom itself some thought, but the growth on top looks to be just a growth defect which has resulted in a couple of miniature additional upside down caps - complete with gills - developing on the normal sized cap.

I guess this could be caused either by environmental factors or by a virus or some other infection, but there would be no way of identifying the infective agent without DNA analysis.

Ken

[mykonik]

Originally Posted by Fungus Ken

While digging back through my old photos I came across the specimen in the photos below, which was an agaric that had not developed its gills because of an infection, presumably by another fungus. These photos are from September 2005.





Unfortunately I didn't pay the specimen much attention when I brought it back and, by the time I came to look at it, it was a disgusting pool of putrid mess.

It was growing in grassy soil under birch and hawthorn at Rixton Clay Pits, alongside some large and rotting specimens of Paxillus involutus. At first I assumed it was a smaller Paxillus, but looking at the photos, I don't think it can have been. Lactarius pubescens grows in profusion on the reserve, so it may well be an infected specimen of this species.

The infecting fungus doesn't look right for a Hypomyces, or for Peckiella which can affect species of Lactarius. In any event the colour is wrong for Peckiella lateritia and Peckiella viridis, which are the two species listed in Ellis and Ellis Microfungi on Miscellaneous Substrates as growing on Lactarius.

To me the purplish colour of the infecting fungus suggests Nectria, but Ellis and Ellis does not list any species that infect agarics.

So I am stumped. All I can say is it was definitely an agaric, but not sure which one, and the growth had been distorted by a parasitic fungus.

Anyone any thoughts or comments?

Ken

Try Hypomyces lithuanicus, Ken (the new name for what was once called Hypomyces torminosus, which has been rejected !) - it has these dull purplish perithecia, especially when in an alkaline solution (is rotting Lactarius alkaline I wonder ?). Are you sure it was decayed L. pubescens or could it have been L. torminosus, the latter being the host to H. lithuanicus !

It definitely went this dull puple colour in the lab, at Kew, when I tested some material that I'd collected in Norbury Park.


Nick

[mykonik]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Thanks Ken

This is the one I mentioned. I am assuming that both species are actually Russula delica



But sometimes I do have doubts

Hi John - looks like R. delica BUT is that a very pale bluish-turquoise band at the top of the stipe where the gills end - if so, this is Russula chloroides !


Nick

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by mykonik

Try Hypomyces lithuanicus, Ken (the new name for what was once called Hypomyces torminosus

Thanks for the steer on this, Nick. That's really helpful. The only literature I seem to have that includes this species is Nordic Macromycetes Volume 1. Interestingly the key includes it under another synonym, H. spadiceus (= H. lithuanicus = H. torminosus).

"On species of the Lactarius torminosus-group. Stromata cream to cinnamon, perithecia reddish brown in KOH. H. spadiceus"

When I keyed it out, I ruled this one out because the colour did not seem right, but it never occurred to me that the perithecia might have gone purple because of any reaction with alkali in the rotting fruiting body. It's certainly a thought.

Originally Posted by mykonik

Are you sure it was decayed L. pubescens or could it have been L. torminosus, the latter being the host to H. lithuanicus !

I'm not at all sure what the host was, but I suspect Lactarius because of the location and the texture of the stem of the fruiting body. I have not found L. torminosus at Rixton Clay Pits, but L. pubescens is abundant there. NM1 seems to imply that H. lithuanicus also grows on other species in the L. torminosus group, which would include L. pubescens.

So Hypomyces lithuanicus seems a much stronger possibility than any of the other options I have considered.

Ken

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by mykonik

Hi John - looks like R. delica BUT is that a very pale bluish-turquoise band at the top of the stipe where the gills end - if so, this is Russula chloroides !


Nick

Many thanks for that Nick. Here is another image taken side on if it helps.



John